In August 2004, was revealed in Brazil a long interview of researcher Ubirajara Franco Rodrigues with Dr Cesário L. Furtado, one of the physicians who had attempted, without succes, to heal the young policeman Marco Eli Chereze, deceased less than a month after having been in contact with one of the mysterious beings captured in Varginha, in January 1996. This interview has been published in the magazine UFO Brazil of A.J. Gevaerd (N° 102), and on its web site http://www.ufo.com.br. It has been translated in french by Christian Sannazzaro, and published on the web site of GREPI http://www.ovni.ch. That interview being very long, and containing some repetitions as the conversation proceeded, Gildas Bourdais proposes here a shorter, adaptated version, in an effort of clarification. It is preceded by a presentation of the Varginha case by A.J. Gevaerd which is maintained here almost entirely.

This new testimony comes in addition to those presented already in the french version of the book of Dr Roger Leir, published in France in January 2005 (before the American edition) under the title Des Extraterrestres capturés à Varginha in Brazil. The New Roswell (“Extraterrestrials captured in Varginha, Brazil. The New Roswell”). One of the most remarkable testimonies in that book, also quite new, is the one of a doctor who had been commended by the military to perform an urgent surgery on one of the captured beings. A most intriguing aspect, which renews the picture of the Varginha case, is that this surgeon reveals he had an intense telepathic communication with that being at the end of the surgery. He has also made a precise description of the being, whose extraterrestrial nature seems beyond doubt. It is obviously an important reading as well.

I – Presentation by A.J. Gevaerd, editor Brazilian UFO Network

One of the most serious facts of the “Varginha case” – and one of the most appalling – was the death, on February 15, 1996, of Corporal Marco Eli Chereze, who was then aged 23. As we know, he was part of the secret service of the Military Police (P2) which participated in the capture of the second creature in the night of January 20, 1996. The news of his death spread very fast, during the first months of the investigations, according to other sources, which revealed that a policeman had died because of a generalized infection after having been in contact with the ET. Faced with the gravity of the situation, the subject was treated with extreme caution by the investigators concerned with the case, while the lawyer, and consultant to the UFO review - Ubirajara Franco Rodrigues – was still searching for new informations.

Rodrigues managed to check with the City Hall that a policeman had really found death shortly after the capture of the creatures. The ufologist even obtained a copy of the death record, by which he was able to locate the family of the boy. The same witness who alerted the investigators about the death of Chereze also declared that the creature, at the moment of the capture, would have attempted a light reaction, obliging the policeman to touch his left arm without his gloves. For some of his colleagues, he would have been contaminated one way or another.

Marco Eli Chereze

The family of Marco Eli Chereze managed to have an inquiry opened by the local police precinct in order to establish eventual medical responsibilities for his death. At that time, searches seemed to be doomed to failure, but they are still under way at the present time. The parents did that because, a few days after January 20, a small tumor, similar to a furuncle, appeared under one of the armpits of Chereze. That tumor, according to what was learned at the time, would have been rapidly extracted by the doctor in charge, at the very premises where he was serving. We know today that nothing like happened. But what most drew the attention of the boy’s family was the lack of informations about his health condition and, later, about his tragic death. Even months after his burial, nobody knew exactly the cause of his death.

Autopsy refused

The police superintendant himself, who lead the inquiry, was not able to be present at the autopsy of the policeman, in spite of his insistance in the face of the police corps in which Chereze served. The retention and/or dissimulation of information regarding that subject were purely and simply an affront to the family of Chereze and to the laws of the Nation. Even worse, such an affront was commited by the Military Police itself. It’s only one year after the event of Varginha, on January 20, 1997 that things began to move, after the dissimulation of the facts had been denounced publicly with insistance, both by ufologists and all the press.

Among the most disquieting facts put forward by the investigators, there was precisely the absence of informations regarding the death of Chereze, the most important piece of the headache named the Varginha Case. Thus, in the middle of a press meeting at the first anniversary of the event, investigators denounced the silence and obtained that the family, the police superintendant and the press had at last access to the autopsy file. From its contents, soldier Chereze would have died from a generalized infection. The policeman would have arrived at home, a certain night after the capture of the creature, suffering from a strong pain in the back. After the ablation of the tumor, he would have shown a gradual process of paralysis and fever which, becoming more serious, obliged him to go to the hospital Bom Pastor where he remained confined and practically isolated from his family during several days.

Close relatives of the policeman, especially his sister, Marta Antônia Tavares, the one who went the most frequently to the hospital, could not have contact with him and had great difficulty to meet the doctor responsible for the treatment ; and it was even more difficult for them to discover what the illness was. Little time after his entry at the hospital Bom Pastor, the policeman was transfered to the hospital Regional Do Sul de Minas, also located in Varginha, the same where he would have brought, in the night of January 20, the creature he had captured. Chereze was led directly to the center for intensive care of the establishment and taken in charge by the very physician who reveals today publicly what he knows. This is where Chereze passed away at exactly 11 am on February 15, 26 days after his implication with the extraterrestrial.
(note of G. Bourdais: the following interview of the doctor gives a slightly different story)

“Although all the tests and exams possibles were applied in the search of a diagnosis, he could not be saved in time”, was to declare the superintendant in charge of the inquiry, in the course of his deposition before the judge of the “COMARCA”. It was just discovered that the physicians who took care of Chereze at the time did not have the faintest idea of how to fight the illness which was striking him down. After the decease of the boy had been unveiled before the press present at the meeting of January 1997, the commander of the Military Police of the state of Minas Merais denied the facts immediately, including the presence of Chereze during that night of january 20. But, in order to protect such an absurd story, they invented an even more crude one.

The family of Marco Eli Chereze confirmed that he was indeed on duty that night. Furthermore, he did not die alone because of his professional activities after the contact with an alien, but the creature he had captured died also after that contact, and much faster than Chereze. “It seems clear that the death of the policeman has become the less controlable and the most dangerous piece of the process of dissimulation imposed by the military of ESA and the brazilian Army”, has acknowledged Marco Petit, co-editor of the magazine UFO, who participated actively in the inquiry.

A.J. Gevaerd then presents the interview of Dr Cesário Lincoln Furtado by Ubirajara Franco Rodrigues, stressing the considerable research of Ubirajara on Varginha, and the “extreme importance” of this document. Here is now the interview.

Ubirajara Franco Rodrigues (Ubirajara hereafter) asks Dr Cesário Lincoln Furtado (Dr Furtado hereafter) what was his role in the treatment of policeman Chereze in the hospitals of Varginha in 1996. The following is the summary of his answers to several questions, condensed in chronological order:

Dr. Furtado — Marco Eli Chereze was first admitted in the Department “Prontomed” (emergency ward) of the hospital Regional by my colleague Armando Martins Pinto (cardiologist), on February 12, 1996. He entered there because of an intense pain in the lumber area. Dr Armando directed him to the hospital Bom Pastor where he was rapidly taken in charge by Dr René, who was cardiologist, general practitioner, and head of the Department of cardiology, and who ordered some exams. I was then involved, being at the time the supervisor (sort of coordinator) of cardiology at Bom Pastor.

Questioned by Ubirajara, Dr Furtado explains that he worked in both hospitals. However, during that month of January, he did not work at the hospital Regional. He went every morning at the Bom Pastor. The reason why Chereze was sent to Bom Pastor is not clear to him: perhaps because of lack of room at the Regional, or rather because Chereze would have military medical coverage there.

Dr. Furtado — The next day, at the hospital Bom Pastor, we asked for new exams because Chereze was still suffering in the lumber area. We asked for urine analyses, radios of the column, of the lumber and sacrum areas, in addition to an examination by an orthopedist because the pain was intense and we suspected the presence of an herniated disc. Dr Rogério Lemos, in charge of orthopedy, examined him and said that there was no alteration and that the problem did not come from there. He told us to continue our search of the cause of the pain, as fever began to appear at that time.

The blood analyses, which arrived in the afternoon, showed an hemogram with a leucocytosis, a deviation to the left and toxic granulations in the neutrophils. This was the sign of an important infection, highly capable of provoking a poisoning (toxemia) – because there were those toxic granulations. We then administered two antibiotics: penicillin and gentamicin, because we thought that there could be a pneumonia, owing to the localisation of the pain, or an urinary infection.

His case was evaluated again on February 13: same condition. The next day, still at the hospital Bom Pastor, he spent the day with fever and pains, but at an “acceptable level”. Until the morning of the 15, where he woke-up very tired and in a state of torpor, with signs of cyanosis. These symptoms seemed to confirm a general poisoning vehiculated by the blood, with a possible outcome in septicemia. He was then immediately transferred to the CTI (Intensive Care) of the hospital Regional, where he was put under medication.

At the CTI of the hospital Regional, one of the first exams was for HIV, with a negative result. His state of health deteriorated rapidly and he died in a few hours, although he had been given antibiotics soon after his admission. This intrigued everybody and an autopsy was performed. It did not confirm an urinary infection, but that was later confirmed by the urine culture which had been ordered at the Bom Pastor. He also had a mild pneumonia.

Said Dr. Furtado — “In my opinion, the urinary infection was the cause of septicemia, because the pulmonary infection was so minimal that it could not have been responsible for such a state”. The close relatives of Chereze, mainly his sister Antônia, says Dr Furtadoo, suspected that the abcess Chereze had in the left armpit, after the military operation, had not been properly treated, which may have caused infections. But Dr Furtado denies that, because, when Chereze was admitted at the hospital, the abcess was practically cured. Furthermore, the abcess was due to another bacteria, a staphylococcus, which is normal for any small infection on the skin.

The main point, insists Dr Furtado, is that the cause of his death – the causa mortis - has not been clarified. A few days before, the boy was in very good health, and at the beginning the infection looked relatively simple. He never had in the past any difficult treatment which could have caused an immunodeficiency. And it could not be congenital either because, if such had been the case, he would not have reached the age of 23 years in good health. This is why we can affirm that his immunodeficiency was “acquired”, but we don’t know how. His death was not caused by a pneumonia, neither by an urinary infection, nor by the abcess.

Dr Furtado also says: At the beginning, the diagnosis of an urinary or kidney infection prevailed because of the presence of “enterobacteria”. But, in less that 20 days, three bacterias attacked the policeman. THREE ! This is a very rare thing in the world. When Marco had a pulmonary infection, he already no longer had any immune defense. In that case, any bacteria can take control of a person.

At the request of Ubirajara, Dr Furtado gives more medical details.

Ubirajara asks:« In the hemogram sent by the laboratory of Bom Pastor, it is said: “Presence of cytoplasmic vacuoles. Presence of 8% of thin toxic granules in the neutrophils. Discret polikilocytosis”. How can you, as a physician, interpret the presence of 8% of those small toxic granulations in the neutrophils ? »

Dr. Furtado — They appear in the neutrophils of a person who is victim of the agression of a very virulent bacteria. This provokes a “battlefield”, if we may say, which could reach 50% ou 60%. The file mentions 8% because it refers to the first blood analysis. And that already demonstrates that there is an infection, which led to the prescription of antibiotics. Their presence denotes an important and serious infection. It is not frequent, except in serious cases.

Ubirajara — in ufological circles, when some researchers will read this statement in the results of the hemogram, they are going to interpret that those 8% of toxic granulations were “unknown things”, the presence of a new substance, or yet something else.

Dr. Furtado — No, nothing like that, absolutely nothing. As I said already, they don’t appear in other infections but are frequent in serious infections.

Ubirajara — During the time that you took care of the policeman, did you notice, at the Bom Pastor as well as the Regional, the presence of any unknown physician, from outside ?

Dr. Furtado — No, I did not notice any. I did not see either the superiors of Marco Eli Chereze, whether of the police or the army. They did not look for me, not even to collect the least information regarding the boy, during the two or three days.

Ubirajara — There is, in the medical inquiry following Marco’s death, the deposition of a dermatologist. He mentions a blood infection, in which red cells would have been attacked by white cells. According to this dermatologist, those 8% in the blood examination could have denoted a contagion by the skin of an eventual toxic substance which would have attacked the red cells. What do you think of that ?

Dr. Furtado — This has nothing to do. There is no connection between these elements.The report also says that a few days could have passed before the process materialized, but it is not so. If there were such a contagion by the skin, it’s effect would be blazing. We would be decimated everyday that way.

Ubirajara — Could you see the body ?

Dr. Furtado — No, I could not. It is not usual. After the death, the body is taken for the autopsy and there is no other recourse. After a person is deceased, you inform the family – and in the case in question, I was not even the person who did that, because when they took him to the CTI , I transferred my responsabilities to the other doctor at the CTI.

Ubirajara — Did the family think of asking for an exhumation of the body ?

Dr. Furtado — Not that I know of. In fact, an exhumation would not have brought any proof of what really caused the death. As for the death certificate, the cause of the death was not mentioned because there was not the faintest element permitting to guarany anything.

Ubirajara — You mentioned that a member of his family had affirmed that he wanted to know what this illness was about, because the policeman had participated in the capture of something strange. Was this told to you before, or after his death ?

Dr. Furtado — A few days later, when his death was still recent. I don’t remember very well, but his sister was in great shock, and she came to talk with me.

Ubirajara — let’s stick to the facts regarding this interview. But, did you notice any other movement at the time, in one of these hospitals ?

Dr. Furtado — I heard of many things, but I did not witness any particular movement. However, rumors were thriving at the maternity ward of the hospital Regional, but I never worked there, being not an obstetrician. Furthermore, the maternity was somewhat separate, the entrance and the rest of it. As for the hospital Humanitas , where I also worked at the time, I did not notice anything. Not even comments between doctors, nurses, and office personnels.

Ubirajara asks further if there could be isolated areas in those hospitals. Dr Furtado explains that, at the Regional, there was also a reserved aisle, used for contagious patients. At the Humanitas, there were few movements, and there wee many rooms without activity. But, in 1996, there were no longer isolation premises, except in hospitals specialized in contagious illnesses.

Ubirajara — Do you see other interesting aspects to mention about that episode ?

Dr. Furtado — Listen, there is that story reported by the family (regarding the capture of the being), about which I don’t know anything. But, we don’t find any rational explanation for the death of this boy. Because it was terribly fast, you understand ?

Ubirajara — Could it be caused by a totally unknown bacteria, however improbable ?

Dr. Furtado — Yes. Well, if we talk of something completely unknown, it is obvious that we could not risk any conjectures. There is no answer possible. Now, could something have penetrated inside his organism, something equally unknown, which would have deprived him of his immunity system ? This is another question without answer.

Ubirajara — Could you tell what type of thing would be susceptible to provoke that, for instance ?

Dr. Furtado — I don’t know. That might be an injectable “poison”, an infection of injured skin, at the face or foot. It might be an injury caused by a nail, which would provoke tetanos, etc. But we know tetanos. A multitude of things, I might say, and this is just to enumerate some examples of what might have contaminated that boy and deprived him of immune resistance. I repeat that I say that it ‘COULD BE”.

Ubirajara — Are you telling me that the death of Marco Eli Chereze was a strange death ?

Dr. Furtado — A strange death, without rational explanation. In the course of my professional life, I have seen already two persons, aged about 25, die of an infection, but we knew that both had immune deficiency. Both of them, if I recall well, had had removal of the spleen (splenectomy) following a past accident. After a certain delay, that causes immunodeficiency. In that situation, the person may decease rapidly if he finds himself in the condition of a septicemia. But, once again, it was not the case.